


Darkest Part

by AwakeAndAliveSpartan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hellfire! Ward, Inhumans - Freeform, Wanted to take down Hydra, Ward's not really evil, spoilers for 3X09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 16:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5340758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwakeAndAliveSpartan/pseuds/AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And Ward's grand plans finally all came together, only to come crashing down in stone and his apparent death. And after witnessing Ward's true game, Skye has a change of heart towards him, only to watch him die. It's not until a new Inhuman is found and brought to the base that she realizes there are darker parts to Ward than she thought. (One-shot based on 3x09 and 3x10 promo.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darkest Part

"I honestly do not know who the hell you actually think I am, Malick." Ward stated, pointing a gun towards the Hydra head. "Did you actually think I would fall for your ruling the world crap?"

Skye stood off to the side, Joey and Lincoln behind her. She wasn't quite sure of what was going on. Ward had returned in a practical hellstorm from the alien planet, Fitz and Will along with him. And something had followed them. The Maveth Inhuman had escaped, but Malick had quickly worked to capture the monster.

And then out of nowhere, Ward had turned his gun on Malick with a sly smile on his face. Skye had no clue what was going on, but it seemed as though Ward was double-crossing Malick.

Malick sneered, "You are really pathetic, Mr. Ward. I actually figured that your alliances weren't never really with Hydra, were they?" he asked, spreading his hands out in front of him. "Who do you work for?"

"I work for no one other than myself." Ward growled. "Hydra was only a cover. It was never what I wanted. SHIELD, Hydra, they're all the same. Doesn't hurt to take down both. I don't care for either of them." His eyes drifted off to the side, towards Skye, "Except for maybe a few…" he trailed off slightly. "But that doesn't matter, I've got you right where I want you."

"Oh, but that's what you think, Mr. Ward." Malick stated. "You are not the winner here. I've got what I want. Maveth is in my possession. You may think you can somehow save the day here, but you can't. Stop trying to be a hero, can't you see that it's impossible for you to be so?"

Before Ward could snap back, two shots rang out. Everything became a blur to Skye. She saw blood stain the front of the camo tac gear Ward had on and the man collapsed to the ground. Her eyes darted to Malick, who held a handgun in his hand and wore a pleased smile on his face.

"What the hell did you do?!" she exclaimed.

"I taught Mr. Ward a lesson, Ms. Johnson." the Hydra head replied. "This is what happens when you try to turn your back on Hydra. He was trying to take this organization down the entire time. Death is the only answer to that. And don't even try anything, it's useless. He'll die within a matter of minutes." His eyes shifted to Ward, who had managed to drag himself across the floor and prop himself up against a wall, leaving a trail of blood.

Malick laughed and shook his head, "Such resilience. He's like a cockroach." he sneered, stepping back as Skye pushed past him and ran to Ward's side.

Her mind was a storm of thoughts she was trying to organize. Ward was trying to takedown Hydra the entire time? It didn't make sense. And why was she so worried for him? Nothing made sense.

"Ward?" she asked, her eyes resting on the circle of blood on his stomach. "Ward?"

His eyes remained closed and Malick laughed again, "I think he spent whatever pathetic life he had left dragging his ass over there."

"Screw you, Malick." Ward muttered, coughing up blood. "I'm not dead yet. Can't get rid of me that easily…."

"Like I said. A damn cockroach." Malick growled, pulling out a different-looking gun. "I can try, Mr. Ward. Now, I don't know what the hell will happen after this, but you'll probably die either way. If you don't take more people with you in the process."

Skye looked up, her hands on Ward's wound trying to stop the bleeding, "What the hell are you talking," she began, but another shot fired, this time higher in pitch, and Ward grunted as something else struck him.

"Now, your kind probably knows what this is, but I don't know what it'll do to him."

Skye returned her gaze to Ward, whose face was now glistening with sweat. His breathing was labored and his heartbeat was fading. He was dying. But she saw fear grow in his eyes as something started lacing up his fingers, very slowly.

Skye couldn't tell whether it was a cocoon or stone, but she knew that Malick had shot him with a Terrigen substance.

"Skye?" Ward asked, voice weak and afraid. "What's going on?"

"You'll be okay…"

She looked back up to Malick, but found that he had disappeared. A rumble echoed somewhere from deep within the building as she returned her attention to Ward.

"Don't bother about me." he struggled to say. "Leave me. Malick'll blow this place once he has Maveth on a jet…" He coughed, blood splattering out. "I tried to stop him, but things don't always turn out the way I want."

"Is it true?" Skye asked.

Ward remained silent, the light slowly fading from his eyes.

"Hydra. You were trying to take it down."

He nodded slowly, "Both Hydra and Coulson. Both I blame. Both I see as… As targets. I didn't care who got in my way… Just wanted… Wanted to…" he trailed off, blood dribbling down his chin.

"Wanted to what?"

Ward ignored her and continued, "Y'know, I could've been a hero. Vendettas get in the way…" He coughed again and even more blood came up. He looked at his hands, seeing that the stone had completely covered them and they were no longer usable. "I screwed up, Skye. Just… Just wanted to protect you." The stone started its way up his arms and he could no longer feel his legs.

"By trying to kill Coulson?" Skye asked. "How is that protecting me?"

Ward smiled slightly, then it quickly faded, "I dunno… My own rage… I'm sorry I hurt you all… Not what I wanted, let myself get carried away. I don't deserve forgiveness." Another rumble shook the building, "Now, go. Leave me."

"Look, we'll get help and,"

"No one's going to help me." Ward cut in. "Face it, I'm not a hero. I'm a villain in everyone's eyes. Let me die." The stone crawled up his neck. Only his head was free, "I've done some horrible things, Skye. Most I regret. But I will never hurt you. I promise. This is the one promise I will keep…"

Another rumble shook the building, even harder this time, alerting Joey and Lincoln, whom of which Skye had become oblivious to.

"Skye, we've got to go! Leave him!" Lincoln exclaimed. "We can't get him out of here anyways!"

Skye looked to Lincoln, "No, we've got to,"

"Skye, he's gone." Joey cut in, pointing at Ward.

Skye's head whipped back around to see that Ward was now just a stone statue, a look of fear permanently frozen onto his face. "Ward? Ward! Grant!" she cried, her own powers causing the building to shake.

"Skye, this place is going to blow, leave him! He's dead!" Lincoln exclaimed. He burst forward and grabbed her by the arm as a distant explosion sounded. "We need to go!"

"No!" Skye exclaimed as Joey grabbed her other arm.

"Skye, please." Joey pleaded. "We've got to go."

They managed to drag her out of the room and out of the building, managing to get out onto the lawn as an explosion ripped through the building.

"Grant!" she screamed as flames ripped out of the building's interior. "Grant!"

* * *

(Two Days Later)

Skye laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as the events of two days ago played through her head. Ward's confession and his subsequent death by stone and two gunshot wounds. She didn't know what actually had taken his life, but she didn't want to know.

And Mack, serving as interim director as Coulson recovered from some injuries, had sent a recovery team to the Hydra base to see what they could find.

 _"_ _Skye, we'll try to find his remains. Maybe give him a funeral if you want to."_ Mack had said.  _"Fitzsimmons really want it as well. I don't know what happened there, but it sounds like he died a hero."_

"Yeah, hero…" Skye muttered. "That's,"

But she was cut off as agents stormed down the hallway, attracting her attention. "What?" she asked, hopping off her bed and running into the hallway. She saw Simmons running past, "Jemma, what the hell is going on?"

Simmons stopped and came towards Skye, her face a mix of emotions, "An unconscious Inhuman was found at the castle."

"And?"

"And it's Ward. Skye, he's alive. It wasn't stone that took him, it was a cocoon. He changed and that allowed him to survive. He's beat up bad. And I wouldn't…" Simmons began to explain, but Skye ran past her, heading towards the transition rooms.

"I wouldn't go right now. He's belligerent." Simmons finished to herself, continuing her run towards the action.

Skye could hear screaming as she approached the rooms. Agents were gathered around outside, and she could see Lincoln, Joey, and Hunter. "What the hell is going on?" she asked.

Hunter pointed inside of the room, "Uh, that. Ward's bloody demonic."

Skye's eyes immediately looked inside, fear taking her as she saw Ward with  _flames_ pouring off of him and a red light in his eyes. He only wore tattered and burned pants. And he was  _screaming._

"Leave me alone!" he screeched. "Let me out! Let me die! I don't want this!"

Her eyes returned to Hunter, "What happened?"

"We found the bloody bloke alive. He woke up and attacked us, those  _flames_ appearing. Managed to get him out and back here, he just woke up again. He's not calming down. He was already psychotic enough."

Lincoln nodded, "It's possible that the trauma he went through further warped his mind, Skye. I don't think he's the same man that died."

She looked back to the raging Ward and then back to Lincoln, "He's afraid. He thought he was going to die and woke up like that. Anyone would be berserk after something like that." she said

"He's going to end up killing somebody."

"Not if he's stopped. He needs help."

"He needs help alright." Hunter said coldly. "The only reason to why he's back here is because he's Inhuman. I don't care to what he did back at the castle."

"Well, I do." Skye said, shoving past them. "I'm going in." She went in and immediately shut the door behind her so no one could see them. She looked at Ward, who of which had frozen, "Grant?" she asked.

Ward slowly took a step towards her, the flames still burning off of him, "What do you want?" he asked. "Where is this? What the hell is going on?"

"Your back at our base in a transitioning room. Grant, you're Inhuman. Malick shot you with a Terrigen substance and it didn't kill you, it changed you and saved you." Skye tried to explain. "You're gifted now."

Ward's eyes drifted to the flames and then back to Skye, "This? I'm like you?" he asked, voice pained. "This isn't a gift, this is hell!" The flames jutted out and increased in size. "It burns, it hurts! Make it stop!"

Skye raised her hands and slowly approached Ward, "I can help, you just have to calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me. I'm not going to go all Malick on you."

Ward's wild eyes darted around the room, even though they slowly returned to their normal whiskey brown color. He waivered on his feet and fell to his knees. The flames snuffed out as Skye came close and kneeled next to him.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Grant. I think we're far past that." she said, placing her hands on his bare, still-hot shoulders. "You've just got to let us help you. I'll make sure that no one will hurt you."

He looked up to her, pain in his eyes, "I didn't want you to see me like this." he said softly. "I thought it was over back at that castle. I wanted to die there. I… I can't do this."

"Yes you can. You may be different now, but that man I saw almost die two days ago is still somewhere inside of there."

"Look, this… This only shows everyone the truth. That I'm a monster."

"The man you were was a monster, these powers do not make you a monster."

"You're not afraid like everyone else? You're not going to run away?" Ward asked, looking down.

"No, I'm not. You showed me that there is still something good in you and this is your chance to prove it. Terrigenesis is a start at a new life, a second chance. And you can take that." Skye explained, keeping her grip on his shoulders. "I don't care if your powers are some dark part of you that you want to keep hidden. I don't care."

Ward looked back up to her, "And you're going to help me? Me of all damn people?" he asked, flames sparking in his eyes. "I don't deserve it."

"The old you didn't. The human you. The Inhuman you does. I promise, I will help you."

"You do? You promise?"

Skye smiled, "I promise."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a one-shot based on what I think could potentially happen in 3x10! Mainly because I think Ward's actually playing Malick and he's not really evil. And I needed something else Hellfire.


End file.
